Various kinds of information may be presented in a digital content format, including audio, video, text, images and multimedia information. Such digital content may be rendered by hardware playback devices and by computer systems operating appropriately configured software playback programs.
The convergence of technological advances in the compression, storage and transmission of digital data has resulted in a global communications network that allows digital content to be distributed rapidly to a large number of potential customers. At the same time, this technological convergence has enabled unprecedented quantities of digital content to be copied flawlessly and distributed to a large number of people. For example, users easily may exchange unprotected digital files by electronic mail or by direct file transfer over the Internet. Users also may access and download digital content posted on a web page using a conventional web browser application program executing on a computer system.
Accordingly there is a need for a content distribution system, which offers a full traceability of digital content distribution to a number of subscribers.